Touching the Stars

Author: Kristin ( tini243gmx.de )

Summary:
Ever since the time they watched 'Cujo' together, she was addicted to being close to him.
Everything she did came from this.

Rating: mostly PG, some chapters R
Category: JnR Romance, Angst
Timeline: begins after 'TOW Joey dates Rachel' AU from there
Spoiler: nothing beyond season 8, contains characters from 'Joey'
Disclaimer: Not mine. Never were, never will be.

Authors Notes: Thanks to Kerstin for her patience, her encouragement and constant handholding during the time I was writing this story. Thanks to Kelly for talking me into posting this.
And last but not least, thanks to my lovely brother for introducing me to 'Friends'.

a few days after the events of 'TOW Joey dates Rachel'

xxx

Rachel kept pacing back and forth across the small apartment. Everything was set. There was a horror movie in the VCR, a full bottle of orange juice in the fridge and two pizzas, still hot, waiting on the table in front of the barcalounger. Everything was going according to plan. She didn't know why she was so nervous.

It was just Joey. It was Joey - her friend. The fact that she was doing all of this because she was looking forward to spending the next few hours comfortably tucked into his arms, wasn't a big deal. Friends did that, right? No need to analyze it to death.

It was almost funny how her climbing in his lap and hiding her face against his shoulder sounded like one of her famous 'moves,' but it had really been nothing more than him being there for her, when she was scared witless by a movie. He made her feel safe and protected After a few minutes, she wasn't scared anymore, but she couldn't bring herself to let go. She just kept pretending, because she hadn't felt two strong arms around her for far too long, and it had felt so nice.

She had wanted nothing more than that. The weeks when she couldn't think of anything but having sex with the next best guy were fortunately over. And this was Joey – her friend, Ross' best friend, 'the nice guy', who wanted her and her baby to live with him just because they were such great friends. Thinking of him as anything other than that was downright ridiculous.

Still, it was nice. So, the next day she had asked Joey if he wanted to watch another horror movie with her sometime. It took him a surprisingly long time to say yes, considering that he tried to get her to sit in his lap for months. However, he had agreed, and here they were.

Just as she had finished pouring two glasses of orange juice, Joey emerged from the bathroom, toweling dry his hair which was still damp from his shower. She handed him the juice, and playfully toasted. He was a really good sport about its non-alcoholic nature. She had almost considered buying beer for him, but decided it would probably ruin the mood, if she had to run to the bathroom every few minutes because she was sick of the smell.

She dimmed the lights, smiled at him and motioned for him to take a seat beside her in the lounger. He perched uncomfortably on the arm of the chair. She knew all she had to do was to pull him closer to her. And she certainly planned on doing this.

An hour later she had forgotten all about her plans and was staring in horror at the television. On screen a tree-like woman, covered in roots, branches and leaves was trying to take a baby out of its bassinet. This was probably not the wisest movie choice for a woman in her condition, but to her defense she hadn't exactly given much thought to the movie when she was renting it.

"I can't watch this, I can't watch this! What is up with this woman?" she squeaked and pressed her face against Joey's chest.

Joey, on the other hand, was nearly falling off the lounger laughing. "Come on Rach, this has to be the single most lamest horror movie I've ever seen. This is not scary; it's funny."

"She's taking the baby!" Rachel cried.

Joey stopped laughing and made a face. "Yeah, that sucks. Maybe we shouldn't watch this crap at all."

He stroked her hair comfortingly, as he used the remote to turn the TV off.

The movie was off, and she no longer had an excuse, but Rachel wasn't ready to leave the warmth of Joey's embrace. When she felt him squirming somewhat uncomfortably beneath her, she realized that she had to say something.

"Would you … would you mind holding me for a while, Joe?"

He pulled her a bit closer, still softly stroking her hair.

"Of course not. Still scared?"

"No its just …", she said trailing off. Could she really tell him that being so close to him made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside? ...that she couldn't think of one single place she would rather be right now? ...that she wished he would hold her all night, that she wouldn't have to crawl into a cold, lonely bed tonight?

He pulled back a little and looked into her eyes. "Hey Rach, everything okay with you?"

"Yeah, yeah…" she answered a bit too hastily.

"You sure?"

"I guess it's a pregnancy thing or something. I really need to feel that I'm not alone right now."

"You know you're not, right?"

When she saw him looking so serious and concerned, she forced herself to smile up at him. "I know."

He gently brushed aside a strand of her hair and said with a voice barely above a whisper, "I'll always be there for you, no matter what, okay?"

She just nodded, afraid that she might start to cry if she tried to say anything. She just tightened her arms around him and buried her face against his neck.

After a while the urge to cry subsided a bit and she started to notice other things - the way she was snuggled up against him, the feel of his skin against her face, the scent of shower gel and something that was unmistakably him. All of this undid something inside of her, made her long for things that were out of her reach, that were forbidden and would never be hers to have. Without giving her actions a second thought she placed an opened mouthed kiss on the underside of Joey's jaw line.

Then she did it again. ...and one more. If she had been excited by the way his skin smelled, it was nothing compared to the taste of it, the feeling of its rough, stubbly texture against the softness of her lips.

Joey didn't move. He stared wide-eyed at the wall and looked shell shocked.

Rachel heard his labored, shallow breathing and felt his heart thumping rapidly under her hand against his chest. Just as she was about to ask if he was alright, he turned his head and began, "Rachel, what are ..." She cut him off with a kiss. She placed her hand behind his neck, pulled herself up and climbed over him, while still not breaking the contact. Joey didn't pull back, didn't resist, but he also didn't return her affections for what seemed like a very long time. Finally, he opened his mouth enough to allow her tongue to slip in the warmth, and the fuzzy feeling inside of her suddenly exploded into a ball of white-hot flame.

xxx

tbc